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Working towards resilient societies, transparent science and alignment with the job market: these are the three themes that Social and Behavioural Sciences faculties at Dutch universities are focusing on. In the joint sector plan ‘From , they put forward their strategy for developing solutions to urgent social issues and strengthening the impact of science. The plan was presented to Marcelis Boereboom (director-general of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science) and VSNU president Pieter Duisenberg on Thursday 11 February.

If today’s major social issues have shown us anything, it’s that no problem is purely medical, technical or biological in nature. Time and again, we are faced with a complexity of influencing factors, as is the case with the climate crisis, persistent inequality, the impact of new technology and – not least of all – the coronavirus pandemic. In all these issues, social and behavioural factors play a crucial role. It is therefore essential to gain insight into these factors in order to come up with solutions and deal with developments that affect our society.

Dynamics of Youth and Institutions for Open Societies, are strongly reflected in these five social challenges.

Five social challenges

The (DSW), which comprises the deans of all Social and Behavioural Sciences faculties at Dutch universities, has presented a sector plan for intensive mutual collaboration in the years ahead that focuses on five major social challenges: resilience among youth, mental illnesses, the human factor in new technologies, social transition and behavioural change, and social inequality and diversity. Marcel van Aken, Dean of the Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences at Utrecht ľ¹Ï¸£ÀûÓ°ÊÓ: ‘Dynamics of Youth and Institutions for Open Societies, the two strategic themes our faculty is closely involved in, are strongly reflected in these five social challenges.’

Investments are made in better alignment between degree programmes and the job market.

Open science and job market alignment
The members of the DSW will also focus their efforts on making research more publicly accessible (open science) and investing in better alignment between degree programmes and the job market. Finally, the DSW wishes to designate ‘Education Studies’ as a separate pillar that requires broad investment. In doing do, the sector aims to work towards proven effectiveness as a basis for educational changes that meet the demands of modern society. Van Aken: ‘We already have a lot of experience with this in Utrecht, of course. Examples include research on education within the strategic themes and our Education Department, as well as our Graduate School of Teaching and the Academic Teacher Training Programme in Primary Education.’

The Social Sciences Discipline Body's sector plan is part of the broader domain vision of the . Sector plans are the basis for possible additional funding from the Dutch national budget.